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Preseason finally over: here’s a look at the races for the final positions

 Jennifer Davis
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Preseason finally over: here’s a look at the races for the final positions
Credit: Capture d'écran / Screenshot
At last! The cursed preparatory games are finally all over and behind us.

The Montreal Canadiens completed their sixth and final pre-season game last night, losing 4-2 to the Ottawa Senators.

The Habs end their preseason with a 2-4-0 record, after four straight losses to the Toronto Maple Leafs and Ottawa Senators.

In short, now that this crazy, violent and blood-soaked preseason is over, we can officially get down to business: the regular season.

The Habs open their season on October 9, next Wednesday, against the Toronto Maple Leafs at the Bell Centre, and by then, the final 23-man CH roster will be known.

It’s worth noting that things could change in the next 24 hours on this subject, as we could soon learn which players have won the last few races for a remaining position.

Here’s a snapshot of those last remaining races for (or converse with) an NHL position.

On the forward front, it was widely agreed that with Patrik Laine’s injury, there were three available spots to fill.

The Habs will most likely keep 14 forwards in Montreal, so with 15 forwards still in town, there would only be one cut to make.

Cole Caufield – Nick Suzuki – Juraj Slafkovsky
??? – Kirby Dach – Alex Newhook
Joshua Roy – Christian Dvorak – Josh Anderson
Brendan Gallagher – Jake Evans – Joel Armia

This gaping hole left by Patrik Laine’s absence is likely to be filled by one of the players in the last two trios, but you never know, maybe Martin St-Louis will want to give this position to one of the last young players still at camp.

This has really become a possibility in the last few days, given that the two most likely candidates, Joshua Roy and Josh Anderson, each had a very ordinary training camp.

The spot (or rather the chair) could therefore be stolen by Emil Heineman or Oliver Kapanen.

Both had a very good camp, and deserve to start the season in Montreal, but unfortunately, we’re likely to see only one of them stay with the big club, unless a veteran is left out on October 9.

Being older, and with the excellent game he had yesterday, when he was the Habs’ best player, Heineman may have a bit of an edge over Kapanen, who has just come into his own at this camp and is only 20.

So my final prediction would be that Heineman gets the final spot in Montreal, while Kapanen could also stay on to play a few games before being sent back to Sweden.

I haven’t named Alex Barré-Boulet and Michael Pezzetta in this race yet, because in my humble opinion, even though they had a solid camp, I think they’ll be the 13ᵉ and 14ᵉ forwards respectively.

It’s a shame for ABB, but I sincerely believe the Habs will prioritize a youngster.

On defense, it’s likely to be just as complicated for management to make a decision.

Obviously, veterans Mike Matheson and David Savard will be part of the top-6, and we can add Kaiden Guhle and Lane Hutson as certainties.

In my opinion, and I imagine in everyone else’s, there’s no doubt that Hutson has made the team, and let’s just say that his non-appearance in the line-ups for the last two preparatory games confirms this even more.

That would leave just two spots in the top-6 and one extra for five defensemen.

In my opinion, the easy cuts will be Adam Engstrom and Logan Mailloux.

Both will gain experience in Laval this season and come back stronger next season.

Engstrom really showed his stuff in his first North American camp, while Mailloux was rather disappointing, although we expected more from him.

What remains to be decided on the Habs side is who will be the sacrificed defenseman who will start the season in the stands as a 7ᵉ defenseman.

Arber Xhekaj, Justin Barron or Jayden Struble?

It’s very difficult to predict.

Xhekaj has had his ups and especially his downs this training camp, so he’s certainly lost a few feathers.

But even so, his presence in the line-up is extremely important for the guys’ confidence, so not to see him in the top-6 for the first game against Ryan Reaves and Toronto would be very surprising.

That leaves Barron and Struble.

And here’s where I honestly don’t know what to say and give my tongue to the cat.

Both have been good in this training camp and deserve to play.

So I think we’ll choose which one to play in each game depending on the opponent, so there will be some rotation including even Xhekaj to allow everyone to play.

That remains to be seen, but that’s my prediction.

In short, it’s all going to be very interesting to follow in the coming hours and days, when we’ll finally know the Habs’ real roster.


Overtime

– Stay tuned.

– He did well at the Wings camp.

– NFL news.

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